Jill Young officially transfers, redshirts 2007-08

Travis Kriens

Travis Kriens

After originally signing to play at Creighton, Jill Young, the all-time leading scorer in South Dakota girl’s basketball history, officially transferred to SDSU on Sept. 6. Young has been enrolled at SDSU since the start of the semester.

The transfer will mean that Young will have to sit out the 2007-08 season and redshirt due to NCAA rules for transferring from one Division I school to another.

Head Coach Aaron Johnston does not view the redshirt as a negative since it will give Jill a chance to get familiar with the team and how they do things. “We’re very excited to have Jill in our basketball family at SDSU,” Johnston said. “We obviously went through the recruiting process with Jill as she made her initial decision and felt very comfortable with the type of person she could be in our program. Nothing has changed.”

The 2007 South Dakota Miss Basketball will still be able to travel and practice with the team. While Young says that Creighton has a great program and team, she just didn’t feel comfortable, and preferred SDSU to out of state. The Mitchell native will receive a scholarship this season. She also has a full four years of eligibility starting with the 2008-09 year.

While playing since seventh grade at Mitchell Christian, Young rewrote the South Dakota record books. Winning the South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year award twice, Young led Mitchell Christian to the State B state title in her junior year. Young broke the state record for points in a career with 3,317 and for three-pointers made with 462. Young averaged a state high 29.1 points per game along with 7.9 rebounds per game and 5 assists per game her senior year, with a single game high of 45 points in a game against White Lake.

Young will join junior forward Jennifer Warkenthien, as both are former South Dakota Players of the Year.

“I am very excited to be a part of the program at SDSU. This is a great opportunity for me and I definitely feel at home,” said Young, who will be able to play for the Jacks’ first year of eligibility in the NCAA National Championships.